The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday initiated an investigation into a money laundering case involving Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan’s IT firm and the Cochin-based mining firm CMRL.
The case is already being probed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). The Kochi office of the ED has filed an ECIR in the case. The ECIR is similar to the FIR lodged by the police for cognizable offences.
This issue was first raised last year by Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan on the basis of a media report, which quoted an Income Tax Department officer as saying that “CM Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan’s IT firm Exalogic had received Rs 1.72 crore from the mining company CMRL, in which the KSIDC has around 13 per cent stake”.
The SFIO has completed one round of probe by visiting the offices of CMRL and KSIDC and has taken statements from officials of both these firms. When the SFIO began its probe, the KSIDC approached the Kerala High Court seeking a stay, which was disallowed.
Veena, whose IT firm was based in Bengaluru and now not in operation, approached the Karnataka High Court seeking a stay, but was also disallowed.The complainant in the case, Shaun George, claimed that the CBI should also launch a probe, considering the gravity of the case.
Earlier, SFIO had sent notices to Exalogic as per the Companies Act, asking the firm to submit transaction documents to its Chennai office. SFIO intensified the probe after the Karnataka High Court had last month quashed a petition filed by Exalogic Solutions against the agency’s probe.
The central agency found that more than 10 companies had considerable financial dealings with Veena’s firm during 2016-17. Exalogic and CMRL claimed that the money received by Exalogic through CMRL Managing Director S.N. Sasidharan Kartha’s account during the period was charged for IT-related services.
